A man from Pennsylvania was briefly the world’s richest man when he discovered a little over $92 quadrillion dollars in his PaylPal account Friday.
Chris Reynolds opened his monthly email statement and was stunned to find that his account had been credited $92,233,720,368,547,800.
That amount would made Reynolds a million times richer than Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim who is worth $67 billion. Reynolds knew right away it was a mistake.
"It's a number you don't see written out very often, even in national finance circles," Chris Reynolds, 56, told the New York Daily News. "My thought was a) it's a mistake and b) it's a big mistake. It was more funny than elating."
Reynolds logged directly onto PayPal's website, where his account balance read $0, which was the correct amount.
He posted the original PDF statement showing the erroneous transfer to his Facebook page and soon received emails from friends he had not been in touch with for many years.
A PayPal representative called Reynolds and expressed embarrassment for the error. The company offered to donate an unspecified amount to a charity of his choice, Philly.com reported.
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"We think it's inspiring that he decided to use this occurrence to donate to a cause he believes in," Pay Pal said in a statement. "And we hope to honor this spirit by donating to a cause of his choice - we've reached out to him to make this offer and to let him know we are grateful that he's a customer!"
Reynolds declined to name which charity he picked or how much PayPal donated on his behalf.
